Sodium reduction panel disbanded

Sarah Schmidt, Postmedia News02.04.2011

Health Canada has quietly disbanded the Sodium Working Group, a much-touted expert panel on sodium that had been charged with tracking over the next five years whether companies were reducing the level of salt in processed foods, Postmedia News has learned.

Related

OTTAWA — Health Canada has quietly disbanded a much-touted expert panel on sodium that had been charged with tracking over the next five years whether companies were reducing the level of salt in processed foods, Postmedia News has learned.

And key members of the Sodium Working Group said its premature death could spell trouble for the government's sodium reduction strategy — considered key to fighting hypertension and heart disease in Canada.

The group was convened by the health minister in 2007 to "develop, implement and oversee" a plan to reduce dramatically the amount of salt in processed foods and items sold in restaurants. The panel completed the first part of its mandate last summer with the release with a strategy to reduce the average daily sodium intake of Canadians by about a third by 2016.

"We expected that we would be recalled back in September to continue work on our monitoring and implementation plans," Mary L'Abbe, vice-chair of the working group and former director of Health Canada's nutritional sciences bureau, said Thursday. But that call from Health Canada never came.

Members of the panel were recently told the file was being transferred to a Health Canada advisory committee that provides broad strategic advice on a range of food issues.

"Recognizing that this is quite novel — there's a lot of things we don't know in terms of the food supply and how it will change over time — that we did want the opportunity over the coming years, between 2010 and 2016, to adjust if need be. And that meant you would look at the results, evaluate whether progress was on track or if there were particular areas that were having challenges or areas that were doing very well, and then make some adjustments. And people were quite cognizant that that might be necessary along the way," said L'Abbe, who is also chairwoman of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto.

Working group member Dr. Kevin Willis of the Canadian Stroke Network said he is taken aback by the move, given the group's mandate to oversee the implementation of strategies for reducing sodium.

"That was always what we were led to believe, and I think the original intent, and I guess we were kind of surprised to find that effectively the Sodium Working Group's being disbanded," said Willis. "There's really a tremendous amount of work to be done, particularly with respect to the monitoring and evaluation piece. That's really critical."

Bill Jeffery, national co-ordinator of the Ottawa-based Centre for Science in the Public Interest and working group member, said disbanding the group "does not inspire my confidence that Health Canada is taking the report seriously," Jeffery said.

He pointed to Health Canada's new draft targets for sodium levels for various food categories — a key part of the strategy so the average daily sodium intake of Canadians drops from 3,400 milligrams to 2,300 mg by 2016. The recommended daily intake level is 1,500 mg.

Jeffery said Health Canada has sided with the food industry by replacing draft voluntary sodium reduction targets for individual products with "sales weighed average" targets for the years 2012 and 2014.

"They're the peak of non-transparent because who can comment on whether Kraft or Campbell or McDonald's are meeting their targets if the evidence that they're providing and are judged by is proprietary information about their sales figures."

And the delayed "maximum" targets for all food items set for 2016 are higher than they should, added Jeffery.

"The thing about the maximums that they're using, they've inflated them. We've noticed in some food categories all the products on the market meet the targets for six years down the road, so where's the challenge there?"

For his part, Willis said he's worried about the long term.

"In the short term, things are going reasonably well. What I'm more concerned about is what is going to happen longer term without the Sodium Working Group there as an ongoing committee that is charged with looking after and being concerned about this issue? Is it just going to fizzle out as people get moved around at Health Canada and priorities change? There's no real group holding their feet to the fire on this," said Willis.

In a statement, Health Canada declined to say why the department disbanded the Sodium Working Group before it could carry out key duties listed in its terms of reference, namely the implementation and oversight of the government's sodium reduction strategy. But the department said membership of the Food Regulatory Advisory Committee — which is now taking the lead on the sodium file — will be extended to some members of the group "when sodium issues are brought for consideration."

Health Canada will also continue to consult individual members of the "former Sodium Working Group" during the implementation of the strategy, the statement said.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.